1

My 2 TB 3.5" SATA harddrive failed while being used in an USB enclosure. I'm trying to determine the cause based on the symptoms.

  • The drive fails to work in two working SATA-USB enclosures on two separate machines (not detected in any OS).
  • The drive is not detected (shown) by BIOS setup when connected directly using SATA on a thrid machine.
  • ...and not listed in Disks in Fedora when connected directly using SATA.
  • The drive is not detected in Windows 10, macOS 10.14, Ubuntu 20.10 and Fedora thirty...something.
  • The drive spins up, so it seems to get power. Not currently sure whether the motor uses the 5 V or the 12 V line, but it seems that SATA drives are at least capable of spinning up without intervention of the logic board:

Pin 11 can be used for activity indication and/or staggered spin-up. If pulled down at the connector (as it is on most cable-style SATA power connectors), the drive spins up as soon as power is applied.

  • There's nothing apparently wrong with its data cable connector (checked for continuity from cable end to logic board pins)
  • I can't identify any abnormal sounds while listening closely, but I realise that might just be because it's only spinning and not reading/writing.

I haven't yet measured voltages with a plugged in power connector, because it is moderately risky and fiddly in a less ideal working position. My guess is that it uses 5 volts for logic and 12 volts for the motor, but I don't know for sure. Is that reasonable?

Would this primarily suggest a problem with the logic board, or is it common for consumer harddrives to stop communicating altogether based on some head or platter fault, thereby preventing all SMART diagnostics?

Improve this question
9
  • Are you trying to diagnose this theoretically or practically? If practically, just try that disk on another computer & for elimination another disk on that computer. The trouble with theory is is rarely shakes out that way in practise ;)
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 6, 2021 at 16:15
  • 1
    @Tetsujin Hello. It has been tried on three machines, on Windows, macOS, Ubuntu and Fedora. On two machines using two different USB enclosures, and on the thrid using SATA. I'm open to suggestions on practical steps! The only one that comes to mind now is to measure voltages if I can just determine that the motor can in fact act independently of one of the power rails.
    – Andreas
    Commented Apr 6, 2021 at 16:18
  • @Tetsujin Added those points to the Q.
    – Andreas
    Commented Apr 6, 2021 at 16:21
  • OK, at least that makes it "the drive"; but if it spins it still might be heads or board. idk how to diagnose further. I'd bin it & use a new one anyway. If you don't have backups, send it to a recovery company.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 6, 2021 at 16:23
  • @Tetsujin Thank you for the suggestions. I'm mostly interested in learning how to identify the ballpark likelihood -- based on what I imagine could be usual symptoms for some distinct fault type -- of it being the logic board. If it is, that might be a project worth doing myself, but in either case it's not worth paying to have done by someone else.
    – Andreas
    Commented Apr 6, 2021 at 16:28

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.